NEWS

   1 Bison News
   2 ----------
   3
   4 Changes in version 1.31, 2002-01-14:
   5
   6 * Many Bug Fixes
   7
   8 * GNU Gettext and %expect
   9   GNU Gettext asserts 10 s/r conflicts, but there are 7.  Now that
  10   Bison dies on incorrect %expectations, we fear there will be
  11   too many bug reports for Gettext, so _for the time being_, %expect
  12   does not trigger an error when the input file is named `plural.y'.
  13
  14 * Use of alloca in parsers
  15   If YYSTACK_USE_ALLOCA is defined to 0, then the parsers will use
  16   malloc exclusively.  Since 1.29, but was not NEWS'ed.
  17
  18   alloca is used only when compiled with GCC, to avoid portability
  19   problems as on AIX.
  20
  21 * When the generated parser lacks debugging code, YYDEBUG is now 0
  22   (as POSIX requires) instead of being undefined.
  23
  24 * User Actions
  25   Bison has always permitted actions such as { $$ = $1 }: it adds the
  26   ending semicolon.  Now if in Yacc compatibility mode, the semicolon
  27   is no longer output: one has to write { $$ = $1; }.
  28
  29 * Better C++ compliance
  30   The output parsers try to respect C++ namespaces.
  31
  32 * Reduced Grammars
  33   Fixed bugs when reporting useless nonterminals.
  34
  35 * 64 bit hosts
  36   The parsers work properly on 64 bit hosts.
  37
  38 * Error messages
  39   Some calls to strerror resulted in scrambled or missing error messages.
  40
  41 * %expect
  42   When the number of shift/reduce conflicts is correct, don't issue
  43   any warning.
  44
  45 * The verbose report includes the rule line numbers.
  46
  47 * Rule line numbers are fixed in traces.
  48
  49 * Swedish translation
  50
  51 * Parse errors
  52   Verbose parse error messages from the parsers are better looking.
  53   Before: parse error: unexpected `'/'', expecting `"number"' or `'-'' or `'(''
  54      Now: parse error: unexpected '/', expecting "number" or '-' or '('
  55
  56 * Fixed parser memory leaks.
  57   When the generated parser was using malloc to extend its stacks, the
  58   previous allocations were not freed.
  59
  60 * Fixed verbose output file.
  61   Some newlines were missing.
  62   Some conflicts in state descriptions were missing.
  63
  64 * Fixed conflict report.
  65   Option -v was needed to get the result.
  66
  67 * %expect
  68   Was not used.
  69   Mismatches are errors, not warnings.
  70
  71 * Fixed incorrect processing of some invalid input.
  72
  73 * Fixed CPP guards: 9foo.h uses BISON_9FOO_H instead of 9FOO_H.
  74
  75 * Fixed some typos in the documentation.
  76
  77 * %token MY_EOF 0 is supported.
  78   Before, MY_EOF was silently renumbered as 257.
  79
  80 * doc/refcard.tex is updated.
  81
  82 * %output, %file-prefix, %name-prefix.
  83   New.
  84
  85 * --output
  86   New, aliasing `--output-file'.
  87 \f
  88 Changes in version 1.30, 2001-10-26:
  89
  90 * `--defines' and `--graph' have now an optionnal argument which is the
  91   output file name. `-d' and `-g' do not change, they do not take any
  92   argument.
  93
  94 * `%source_extension' and `%header_extension' are removed, failed
  95   experiment.
  96
  97 * Portability fixes.
  98 \f
  99 Changes in version 1.29, 2001-09-07:
 100
 101 * The output file does not define const, as this caused problems when used
 102   with common autoconfiguration schemes.  If you still use ancient compilers
 103   that lack const, compile with the equivalent of the C compiler option
 104   `-Dconst='.  autoconf's AC_C_CONST macro provides one way to do this.
 105
 106 * Added `-g' and `--graph'.
 107
 108 * The Bison manual is now distributed under the terms of the GNU FDL.
 109
 110 * The input and the output files has automatically a similar extension.
 111
 112 * Russian translation added.
 113
 114 * NLS support updated; should hopefully be less troublesome.
 115
 116 * Added the old Bison reference card.
 117
 118 * Added `--locations' and `%locations'.
 119
 120 * Added `-S' and `--skeleton'.
 121
 122 * `%raw', `-r', `--raw' is disabled.
 123
 124 * Special characters are escaped when output.  This solves the problems
 125   of the #line lines with path names including backslashes.
 126
 127 * New directives.
 128   `%yacc', `%fixed_output_files', `%defines', `%no_parser', `%verbose',
 129   `%debug', `%source_extension' and `%header_extension'.
 130
 131 * @$
 132   Automatic location tracking.
 133 \f
 134 Changes in version 1.28, 1999-07-06:
 135
 136 * Should compile better now with K&R compilers.
 137
 138 * Added NLS.
 139
 140 * Fixed a problem with escaping the double quote character.
 141
 142 * There is now a FAQ.
 143 \f
 144 Changes in version 1.27:
 145
 146 * The make rule which prevented bison.simple from being created on
 147   some systems has been fixed.
 148 \f
 149 Changes in version 1.26:
 150
 151 * Bison now uses automake.
 152
 153 * New mailing lists: <bug-bison@gnu.org> and <help-bison@gnu.org>.
 154
 155 * Token numbers now start at 257 as previously documented, not 258.
 156
 157 * Bison honors the TMPDIR environment variable.
 158
 159 * A couple of buffer overruns have been fixed.
 160
 161 * Problems when closing files should now be reported.
 162
 163 * Generated parsers should now work even on operating systems which do
 164   not provide alloca().
 165 \f
 166 Changes in version 1.25, 1995-10-16:
 167
 168 * Errors in the input grammar are not fatal; Bison keeps reading
 169 the grammar file, and reports all the errors found in it.
 170
 171 * Tokens can now be specified as multiple-character strings: for
 172 example, you could use "<=" for a token which looks like <=, instead
 173 of chosing a name like LESSEQ.
 174
 175 * The %token_table declaration says to write a table of tokens (names
 176 and numbers) into the parser file.  The yylex function can use this
 177 table to recognize multiple-character string tokens, or for other
 178 purposes.
 179
 180 * The %no_lines declaration says not to generate any #line preprocessor
 181 directives in the parser file.
 182
 183 * The %raw declaration says to use internal Bison token numbers, not
 184 Yacc-compatible token numbers, when token names are defined as macros.
 185
 186 * The --no-parser option produces the parser tables without including
 187 the parser engine; a project can now use its own parser engine.
 188 The actions go into a separate file called NAME.act, in the form of
 189 a switch statement body.
 190 \f
 191 Changes in version 1.23:
 192
 193 The user can define YYPARSE_PARAM as the name of an argument to be
 194 passed into yyparse.  The argument should have type void *.  It should
 195 actually point to an object.  Grammar actions can access the variable
 196 by casting it to the proper pointer type.
 197
 198 Line numbers in output file corrected.
 199 \f
 200 Changes in version 1.22:
 201
 202 --help option added.
 203 \f
 204 Changes in version 1.20:
 205
 206 Output file does not redefine const for C++.
 207
 208 Local Variables:
 209 mode: outline
 210 End: